A former U.S. Army Ranger, Kennedy will make his first appearance
since losing a five-round unanimous decision to Strikeforce
middleweight champion Ronaldo
“Jacare” Souza in August. That loss snapped a four-fight win
streak, during which Kennedy finished veterans Trevor
Prangley and Nick
Thompson. Kennedy was originally rumored to take part in a
rubber match with Jason “Mayhem”
Miller in Columbus, but that matchup was scrapped for unknown
reasons.

Rockhold, a product of the vaunted
American Kickboxing Academy, is unbeaten inside the Strikeforce
cage, having finished all six of his opponents inside the first
round. He last competed in February 2010, when he dispatched of
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 participant Paul
Bradley via first-round technical knockout. Rockhold had been
tabbed for an October meeting with veteran Matt
Lindland but was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder
injury.

Sporting a perfect record of 11-0, Evangelista has spent the
majority of his career competing for Strikeforce. His last two wins
have come in the form of decisions against Waachiim
Spiritwolf and Jorge Gurgel
on Strikeforce Challengers cards. The Californian also holds
notable career wins over Nam Phan,
Ryan
Healy and Harris
Sarmiento.

The hard-hitting and well-traveled Masvidal was involved in three
close decisions in 2010, winning only one. While he bested Zst star
Naoyuki
Kotani in Japan, he dropped verdicts to Paul Daley and
Luis
Palomino stateside. The 26-year-old
American Top Team fighter will make his first Strikeforce
outing since February 2008, when he took a unanimous decision over
the aforementioned Healy.

Advance tickets for Strikeforce “Columbus” -- which will be held in
conjunction with the annual Arnold Sports Festival -- go on sale to
Strikeforce mailing list subscribers Tuesday. Tickets go on sale
for the general public on Friday.